When paper such as ledger or magazine paper is recycled by first breaking the paper down into a pulp slurry containing its individual components, long cellulose fibers are recovered that are useful for making tissue or other paper products. The slurry also contains a significant amount of other materials including primarily kaolin clay and short cellulose fibers which are not useful for making tissue. In an effort to make the maximum use of materials in the pulp slurry, various products have been developed.
One of the products that has been developed is a granular absorbent product that is made by a process that is known as the KAOFIN process and is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/852,419, filed May 8, 1997, which is incorporated herein by reference for its disclosure of the process for making absorbent granules. The granular product of this process is described in our copending applications, Ser. No. 08/857,302 filed May 16, 1997, and Ser. No. 08/929,601 filed Sep. 19, 1997, which are incorporated herein by reference for a disclosure of the granular absorbent product made by the KAOFIN process.
Desirable characteristics for granular absorbent products include a high rate of absorption of liquids, a high bulk density, and a high resistance to attrition. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,751 (the '751 patent) discloses a process for making absorbent pellets from clay that may be used as a floor absorbent. The '751 patent discloses the use of paper sludge in amounts between ten percent and fifty percent of the total mass of the agglomerated solids. However, the absorbency is less than ideal as seen in the examples which include pellets having 50% paper sludge and 50% clay fibers, a bulk density of 38 lbs/ft and only 78% absorbency (see Chart 2, sample 008).
Another example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,564 (the '564 patent) which is directed to non-clay agricultural granules. The granules are formed by the agitative agglomeration of a plant fiber slurry and resembles a clay granule in all respects except for its chemical inertness.
Clay products, such as those described in the '751 patent, have the disadvantage of low absorbency when mixed with paper sludge, and relatively high attrition rates when the fiber content is low, as described in the '564 patent. When used as a floor absorbent, it is desirable that the granules retain their integrity after absorbing water or oil from the floor.
Another problem encountered with granular floor absorbents is that the granules are generally spherical and tend to roll across the floor. When a worker steps on the granules, there is a danger that the granules will cause the worker to slip and fall as the granules roll under his shoes.